News — microplastics

If you use a plastic chopping board every day, it will release tiny plastic particles. Recent lab tests have measured from around 1,000 up to 50,000 microplastic fragments per cut on some plastic boards, especially once they are heavily scored. So if you want to avoid microplastics near your food, the safest switch is to a natural material board such as bamboo or acacia wood. Do plastic cutting boards release microplastics? Yes, they do. Every time a knife moves across a plastic board, it shaves off microscopic particles. These are usually smaller than 5 mm and many are invisible to...

Yes, plastic cutting boards do shed microplastics. Every time you slice or chop, your knife can scrape off tiny plastic particles, often smaller than 5mm, that can end up in your food or washing-up water. If you want to avoid this, the safest long term option for everyday home cooking is usually a solid wooden or bamboo board that can last 5 to 10 years with simple oiling and care. What actually happens when you cut on plastic? When you use a knife on a plastic board, especially a hard one like polypropylene, each cut creates shallow grooves. Over hundreds...

If you want to cut down microplastics in your food, a wooden cutting board is usually safer than plastic, because wood does not shed synthetic microplastic particles as it wears. In everyday use over 5 to 10 years, a 45x35cm wooden board like the Deer & Oak Large Bamboo Board (1.8kg) will release far fewer plastic fragments into your kitchen than a similar sized plastic board. Wood vs plastic cutting board microplastics: what actually happens on your worktop? Every time you chop, your knife scrapes tiny particles from your board. On plastic, those particles are synthetic and can become microplastics....